Your cart
Close Alternative Icon

Be Good Wreath Tutorial

Every year I like to add a little something special and handmade to my holiday decor. My dream is that one day I will have a home filled with special handmade things that remind me of all my Christmas’ spent with family in all our different homes. It is sometimes hard to find time in December for making, but I  decided to invest a bit more time making a piece that was larger to add to my collection. Thus the Be Good Wreath is born!

 

This macrame wreath is totally simple and methodical to make. It is a perfect starting place for beginners because it uses just a few of the most basic macrame knots, but if you are brand new to macrame I highly recommend picking up a copy of Emily Katz book Modern Macrame. Not only is it full of amazing projects that I am dying to make, but it also has an excellent guide to tons of different macrame knots that will help you work through any project or customize your Be Good wreath to make it fit perfectly in your own home. 

Materials

2 skeins of Jersey Be Good in Forest Green 
23" Quilting Hoop (available in-store)
12" Wood Embroidery Hoop (available in-store)
Scissors 
Modern Macramè by Emily Katz (optional)
1 skein of Jersey Be Good in Tinsel (optional)
Decorative Twill tape, Ribbon, or Bow (optional)

Prepare your hoops

Your 12” embroidery hoop will have a locking mechanism at the top of the outer hoop. Since you won’t be using your hoop conventionally you will want to remove this piece. You can easily pop these off with your hands or a pair of pliers. Once you have removed all the metal pieces press the inner and outer hoops together and tape them to hold. You won’t see the tape, it’s just to hold the two hoops together  while you are working. Repeat for the 23” hoop. 

Cut your lengths

For my 23” wreath 2 yard cuts of Jersery Be Good were the best length. If you use a different material or decide to may a different size, you may need to adjust this length. For a full inner hoop I used 88 cuts of jersey yarn. If you start attaching and it looks like too few or too many, you can add or subtract cuts in sets of 8. (i.e. Use 80 lengths or 96 lengths instead)

Attach cut lengths to 12” hoop

You will now begin attaching all 88 cut lengths of Jersey Be Good Yarn to your 12” hoop using the Lark’s Head Knot (LHK).

Your first three rounds

The first three rounds of your wreath will be made up of Alternating Rounds of Square Knots. The basics of the square knot are illustrated above or an even more detailed description of both the Square Knot (SK) and the Alternating Rounds of Square Knots can be found in Modern Macramé.

Shaping your star

For the star-like shape you will now separate your Jersey Yarn into groups of 16 (originating from 8 Lark’s Head Knots). You will be making Alternating Square Knots (ASK) across these 16 strands, continuing up until you have just one SK at the peak. The first round should be made up of 4 SK, the second rounds should have 3 SK, the third round should have 2 SK and the fourth round will have just 1 SK.

Attaching to the 23” hoop

You will be attaching your macrame to the outer 23” hoop using the Horizontal Double Half Hitch (HDHH) demonstrated below or found in Modern Macramé. It is best to work one or two strands of jersey yarn on one side of the hoop and then move to the opposite side of the hoop and attach some on that side to ensure that you are keeping it evenly spaced. I did four small sections at the top, bottom and on either side of the wreaths and then filled in rest

Edging

Just one more round of Square Knots followed with a large knot is all you have left. Trim the excess jersey yarn to your desired length (mine are about 1.5”) and you are finished!

Now that you have completed your Be Good Wreath it is time to think about embellishments. Just like any wreath, the add-ons are the perfect place to make it your own. Some like a simple, clean wreath that lets the macrame shine. I personally plan to keep things more on the modern side with large shiny tassels, but you could definitely have a more traditional look with a big red bow. 

Comments on this post (2)

  • Jan 02, 2020

    Thank You Marybeth, it was a battery operated LED light that was behind the wreath.

    — Fancy Tiger Crafts

  • Jan 02, 2020

    Love this! And will definitely want to work with some of that jersey “cord” one day. Mostly curious what type of lighting is behind your wreath and how you attached it. Not seeing a cord so assume they are battery operated? Really sets off your work! :-)

    — Marybeth

Leave a comment